FIFA sets appeal dates for Adamu, Temarii

FIFA set dates for Amos Adamu and Reynald Temarii to challenge their suspensions following corruption allegations that led to them being barred from the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosting votes.

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FIFA said in a statement Friday that its appeals committee will meet Feb. 2-3. Soccer’s governing body also will hear the cases of three former FIFA executive committee members – Slim Aloulou, Amadou Diakite and Ahongalu Fusimalohi – who were suspended after a newspaper sting.

A sixth official, Ismail Bhamjee of Botswana, has not appealed his ban.

FIFA’s ethics panel chairman, Claudio Sulser, said in announcing the sanctions two weeks before the World Cup votes that "the damage done to FIFA is very great." Without Adamu and Temarii, a 22-man executive committee chose Russia to host the 2018 World Cup and Qatar in 2022.

Adamu was banned from all duties for three years after The Sunday Times published video showing him requesting $800,000 to build four artificial soccer pitches in his native Nigeria, and for the money to be paid to him directly.

If exonerated, Adamu would be cleared to stand for re-election to his FIFA post. The Confederation for African Football has its annual assembly Feb. 23 in Khartoum, Sudan, where it will choose two of its four delegates to the FIFA ruling body.

Temarii, from Tahiti, was cleared of corruption but received a one-year ban for breaching confidentiality and loyalty rules. He was replaced as a FIFA vice president and Oceania confederation president by his former deputy, David Chung of Papua New Guinea, last Saturday.

The FIFA appeals body, chaired by Bermuda Football Association President Larry Mussenden, also will hear three other cases.

Aloulou, a Tunisian lawyer who chaired FIFA’s disputes panel, is challenging a two-year sanction. FIFA referees committee member Amadou Diakite of Mali and Ahongalu Fusimalohi from Tonga were each suspended for three years. Bhamjee got a four-year ban.

They reportedly advised reporters posing as lobbyists how much to bribe FIFA officials. Sulser’s panel fined each official $10,400, except for Temarii, who was fined 5,200.

The FIFA appeal committee’s verdicts can be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.